Various types of paddle wheel distributors are known and the referenced publication "Atlas des Zeitungs- und Illustrationsdruckes" ("Atlas of Newspaper and Magazine Printing") by A. Braun, Frankfurt 1960, FIG. 91 on Page 76, illustrates a typical newspaper paddle wheel distributor having paddles or vanes made of flat strip material, such as steel, of essentially rectangular cross section. As printing machine speeds, and hence delivery speeds increase, it has been found that the metallic surfaces of the vanes or paddles of the paddle wheel distributor have the tendency to accept ink from the printed products. In case of malfunction, for example upon uncontrolled placement of too many folded products in a paddle pocket, formed by adjacent paddle wheels, it may also occur that the metallic vanes or paddles are bent. Shut-down of the production line is then required until the vanes can be straightened or replaced. Since the paddle wheel distributor is usually part of an integral distribution network, shut-down of the paddle wheel distributor, if only one paddle wheel is bent, causes a substantial loss of production capacity. Typically, the paddle distributor is included in a chain of paper handling apparatus which has folding apparatus, formers and the like, all of which then have to be shut down.